‘Clock Boy’ Ahmed Homesick in Qatar, Wants to Come Back to Texas

ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images1 Dec 2015

Within days of demanding a total of $15 million from the City of Irving and the Irving Independent School District, “Clock Boy” Ahmed Mohamed announced in a long distance phone interview from Qatar, he is homesick and wants to come home to Texas now.

In October, Ahmed accepted a fully-funded education scholarship from the Qatar Foundation, an organization with reputed ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, over an invitation to MIT, which is among the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the world. The family announced they would relocate to Qatar to accommodate his education, which they did.

Dallas’ KTVT 11 (CBS) interviewed the teen from halfway around the world over Facetime. Now, Ahmed claims he misses Texas. “I want to go back to a place where everyone knows me,” meaning the kids he grew up with. He also hinted a trip to Dallas may be in the works over the Christmas holiday. He told the CBS affiliate he is ready to come home and wants to do so immediately, but insists last week’s armed yet peaceful protest outside the Irving mosque stopped him.

Breitbart Texas reported on the small group outside of the Islamic Center of Irving. The organizer released dozens of names and addresses considered Muslim and Muslim sympathizers over social media. The list, however, was posted on the City of Irving’s website since March with the information of those who signed up to speak for and against the topic of American laws for American courts at an Irving city council meeting.

Ahmed told the TV news outlet: “I was scared because I’ve heard what happened recently with, like, people with guns going to my local mosque,” adding: “…I mean, they have the right to do that but it’s scary because I’m afraid, you know.”

Last week, through West Texas attorney Kelly Hollingsworth, Ahmed’s family demanded $15 million plus apologies in letters that asserted they moved to the Middle East because “threats and fear drove his family from Texas.” However, Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne received serious online threats and remains under fire over decisions made by the Irving ISD and Irving police to detain the high school freshman, who, on Sept. 14, brought into school a makeshift clock that resembled a briefcase bomb.

The KTVT reporter pointed out that questioning the teen about the $15 million “was something that nearly ended (the interview).” He captured Ahmed’s metered responses with “eyes drifting off camera” that appeared to look offside “for approval” from someone before answering questions. Ahmed first looked away when asked if he wanted to come back to Texas before answering “yes” with a smile. “Clock Boy” then told the CBS affiliate he was waiting for people to calm down back home before he returned.

In a Christmas season blanketed by the Islamic State attacks in Paris, State Department travel alerts, and Syrian refugees at U.S. borders, sympathy continues to wane for the Islamophobia poster child. Breitbart News reported that the same liberal media that championed the teen’s every move, including his Qatar Foundation-sponsored tour of Education City, lost interest.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazetteadded what little sympathy Americans had for the “Clock Boy” is gone “thanks to a shameless money grab by the teen’s family.” The newspaper added that the Mohamed family’s “departure and subsequent demands make them look like opportunists, or worse.”